Having decreased by 7.26 percent last week, prices of ex-Australia iron ore with 62 percent Fe content for delivery to China’s Qingdao port have moved up by $4.24 /mt on the first working day of the current week to $116.17-117.26/mt CFR China.
After exceeding the $120/mt CFR mark at the beginning of last week, iron ore prices had reached their highest point recorded during the past five weeks, while they continued to move up on Tuesday, July 2. This uptrend of iron ore prices was attributed to the slowdown observed in ex-Brazil iron ore shipments to China, the ongoing concerns about overall iron ore supply, the acceleration of iron ore purchases, and also to higher finished steel prices. On the other hand, iron ore quotations indicated a slight softening in subsequent days with buyers not concluding purchases at the increase price levels, and closed last week with a sharp fall of $7.22/mt on Friday, July 5.
On the other hand, leading steel producers in China gathered on Friday to investigate whether “non-market factors” are causing a record rise in iron ore prices. Under the leadership of China Baowu Group, the group of eight stated that non-market factors caused the high levels of iron ore prices recorded particularly over the past two months, since there has been no significant change in the supply-and-demand balance.
Meanwhile, SteelOrbis has been informed that inventories at Chinese ports have recovered somewhat recently, and so iron ore prices are expected to move down slightly since concerns regarding global iron ore supply have diminished to a certain extent.